Ukraine cries. Everyone is lying. UN expresses 'deep concerns'

[tServo]

Meanwhile, back on the economic front ....

We may see what good economic sanctions do ( or not ) in the coming few weeks.
Several sites I peruse and also some finance oriented TV news shows have had stories concerning Russia's
impending default on several international loans which combined could trigger a default by Russia itself.
Russia has not defaulted since the Bolshevik Revolution in 1918. Some writers are claiming that they are in technical default right now. Most seem to say they are running on fumes since they missed several large, inportant payments at the beginning of April and are now in a 30 day grace period. If they don't cough up a payment at the beginning of May, they could be toast. In the past 45 days, we have heard about the U.S. or Europe doing some financial move that we don't understand and seems esoteric, at best. Well, a default may the result of those strange moves. It all depends on whether the note and bond holders let them off the hook by giving them more extensions or allow them to rewrite the terms.

Stay tuned.

[tuckerkao]

Originally Posted by chalsall

My gods! How can humans do this kind of thing?

It'll only take 1 very angry empirical and powerful man to start a nuclear war worldwide and that man can very well be Vladimir Putin someday if he doesn't achieve his own milestone in Ukraine soon enough.

Leaders like Vladimir Putin or North Korean president only understand the powers and the weapons, most likely won't care about the climate change activists who they've brutally stepped on.

Declare a war on a neighbor nation is relatively easy, sign a peace treaty is way harder. the Antarctica glaciers will likely keep melting.

[storm5510]

I found myself pleased the presidential election in France turned out the way it did. The NATO bloc needs to stay intact now more than ever. If that woman had won, oh what a mess it would have been down the road.

As Russia's financial situation gets worse, it would not surprise me if Putin started selling little bits of his nuclear material on the black market. Iran would be a very probable customer. Perhaps North Korea. In Iran's case, why spend years making something when their neighbor to the north is willing to sell it to them. If this were to happen and Israel got wind of it, the powers-that-be in Tel Aviv would all be wearing brown shorts.

[ldesnogu]

Originally Posted by storm5510

I found myself pleased the presidential election in France turned out the way it did. The NATO bloc needs to stay intact now more than ever. If that woman had won, oh what a mess it would have been down the road.

That abortion of le Pen (sorry for profanity, she doesn't deserve any form of respect) would also have made EU explode.

If Putin has succeeded at anything it's to strengthen NATO and EU, and it would have been a disaster if she had won.

But I fear she'll win next time in 5 years. Hopefully by that time Putin will be out of the game (or France will have woken up, but I doubt it).

[Dr Sardonicus]

I'm relieved Marine Le Pen didn't win the French presidential election. However, her getting 42% of the vote does not fill me with joy.

As I understand it, France is having Parliamentary elections starting June 12 this year.

[storm5510]

Originally Posted by ldesnogu

That abortion of le Pen (sorry for profanity, she doesn't deserve any form of respect) would also have made EU explode.

If Putin has succeeded at anything it's to strengthen NATO and EU, and it would have been a disaster if she had won.

But I fear she'll win next time in 5 years. Hopefully by that time Putin will be out of the game (or France will have woken up, but I doubt it).

I don't see any profanity!

When something Putin, or any of his despots, try to do backfires, he always falls back on rattling his nuclear sabre. It was his foreign minister this time around. At the same time, I read that the Kremlin want to "stabilize" relations with the U.S. It's like the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing, or vice versa. Perhaps their shorts are turning brown because Germany is also sending larger field artillery pieces to Ukraine, so I heard last night. A slight leveling of the table, which Moscow does not want.

[a1call]

Originally Posted by a1call

This and any similar conflicts could be addressed properly/intelligently iff a Union-of-Nations is formed similar to UN, where no nation has a veto power. Veto is the main factor that makes UN ineffective.

UN seeks to force explanations for Security Council vetoes

...
The UN General Assembly voted by consensus to pass a resolution seen as a first step towards holding the five permanent members of the UN Security Council accountable when they make use of their veto power.

Those five permanent members, the US, the UK, France, China and Russia, will not see their veto power eliminated but rather for the first time, the General Assembly will be required "to hold a debate on the situation" within 10 working days of them vetoing a proposal.

The consensus vote in support was met with applause in the 193-member assembly.
...

https://www.dw.com/en/un-seeks-to-fo...oes/a-61601334

[Dr Sardonicus]

Ukraine war: Russia halts gas exports to Poland and Bulgaria

Russian energy giant Gazprom says it has halted gas exports to Poland and Bulgaria over the countries' refusal to pay for supplies in roubles.
The firm said services will not be restored until payments are made in the Russian currency.
It comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered "unfriendly" countries to pay for gas in roubles.
<snip>
Polish state gas company PGNiG, which bought 53% of its gas imports from Gazprom in the first quarter of this year, described the suspension as a breach of contract, adding that the company would take steps to reinstate the gas supply.

Meanwhile in Sofia, energy minister Alexander Nikolov said Bulgaria had paid for Russian gas deliveries for April and claimed supplier Gazprom will be in breach of its current contract if it halts the flow.

"Because all trade and legal obligations are being observed, it is clear that at the moment [Russian] natural gas is being used more as a political and economic weapon in the current war," Mr Nikolov said.
<snip>

[ldesnogu]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

Ukraine war: Russia halts gas exports to Poland and Bulgaria

Beyond what the article says, I guess Putin wants to divide Europe by trying to push some countries to pay in roubles despite common decisions (Hungary aside but they are just Putin's puppets and I hope the EU will severely sanction them once this war is over).

[storm5510]

About the sanctions. I feel they should stay in place as long as Putin is running the show in Moscow, even after this war is over, whenever that may be. The problem is that this will continue to punish the ordinary people of the country, whether they supported the war or not. There will need to be a "middle ground" somewhere.

[Dr Sardonicus]

There was in interview with Daniel Yergin about Putin's using energy as a weapon.

He said that in taking this action, Putin has insured that Russia will, in the coming years, lose Europe as a market for Russia's oil and gas. This is because he has made Russia an unreliable provider.

Yergin speculates that as a result, Russia may wind up having a lot of natural gas it simply can't sell. And if it tries to sell to China, China will drive a very hard bargain - possibly demanding control of the gas fields and distribution system.

Germany has greatly shortened its timeline for independence from Russian crude oil.

One alternative Germany has on hand for generating electricity is coal. If I recall the world history classes from my youth, a lot of Germany's coal is lignite. Soft, brown, dirty. My youth was long ago, but I fear not long enough for the lignite to have transformed into anthracite.